Language Education Outside the U.S.

Published by Radio New Zealand, August 2, 2015

The Marshall Islands has announced what it calls a bold change to its public school teaching strategy, extending bilingual education through to the 12th grade.

Published by Telesur, May 18, 2015

Intercultural education is key for Panama's indigenous peoples, such as the Ngäbe-Buglé, to pass their culture to their children.

Indigenous communities in Panama reaffirmed their movement to reclaim their right to intercultural education Monday, pledging to ensure children in the first three grades of primary school in indigenous regions are taught by their own indigenous educators, Prensa Latina reported.

“We are not opposed to Latinos teaching our children,” said indigenous Ngabe-Bugle attorney Alberto Montezuma. “What we have always claimed is that at these levels, including preschool, the teachers must be indigenous so that our children have a bilingual education.”

The Panamanian government promised intercultural education for its indigenous administrative zones in 2010, but the model was never implemented, according to Panama’s La Estrella, despite the World Bank directing US$4.5 million to the Ministry of Education for the project.
Numbers of indigenous teachers top out at 10 percent of all educators in the heart of indigenous territories, with the much lower numbers on the peripheries of indigenous regions.

Published by The National, May 5, 2014

The programme helps children, most of whom speak a local language, learn in French, the official language of Senegal.

Published by Murciatoday, April 13, 2015

English And Spanish Bilingual Education Spreads Throughout Murcia.

Published by the Northumberland News, April 1`, 2015

Indigenous people struggle to study in native language

Published by the South China Morning Post, February 23, 2015

Published by Ynet news.com, January 2, 2015

The Hand in Hand bilingual schools teach two languages, two cultures, and three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Each classroom has two teachers, one who teaches in Hebrew and the other in Arabic.

Published by the Telegraph, November 20, 2014

"To have another language is to possess a second soul." So said Charlemagne.

In Remembrance season, the increase in popularity of nationalist parties across Europe is a timely reminder that we must always be on guard as history can and often does repeat itself.

As a language teacher, it worries me deeply to see that with less than a third of state secondary schools running exchange trips and only 48 per cent of 16 year olds in England taking a modern foreign language at GCSE, the majority of the next generation will be dispossessed of that "second soul".

Published by the Language Magazine, November, 2014The British government, in recognition of the value of language learning in early childhood, took a bold step this year and mandated compulsory teaching of a second language for children ages seven to eleven in English primary [elementary] schools. As of this September, all primary school students are required to study one of seven languages, and though the most popular choice is French, followed by Spanish, some schools offer Mandarin and Arabic. Many believe that this move is essential for the UK to remain competitive with its European counterparts. This is clearly a commendable move, but is it an incredible advance or a wildly optimistic plan? How will the schools actually implement this, and is there support in place to see this plan comes to successful fruition?

Published by Del Peru para el mundo, Mary 28, 2015

Some 15,000 teachers will be hired by the Ministry of Education to assist the needs of public schools providing Intercultural Bilingual Education (EIB), in favor of 53 indigenous Peruvian communities, totaling over 1 million students.

Published by the Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2015

Not so many years ago, Wayuu customs such as palabreros were looked down upon by most Colombians, part of a condescending attitude in general toward native groups. But after decades of neglect, experts on the country's aboriginal cultures say, more respect finally is being paid.

For Colombia's native peoples, a watershed event was the 2010 enactment of the Language Law, which made preservation of the customs and languages of the Wayuu and the other native communities a national priority. The law was passed after warnings that up to half of the indigenous idioms in Colombia faced extinction unless measures were taken to preserve them.

Also in 2010, the tribal judges were recognized by the United Nations' cultural arm UNESCO as part of the world's cultural heritage, providing added impetus to tribal rights and the struggle for cultural preservation.
Opponents of planned Colombian dams take heart from OAS report
Opponents of planned Colombian dams take heart from OAS report

"Each native language gives a vision of the world, a way of perceiving and organizing things that we cannot afford to lose," said Olga Ardila, a linguistics professor at National University of Colombia in Bogota. "And there is also the social function of language, how it binds communities together."

Published by telesurtv, April 2, 2015

Published by A Channel NewsAsia, March 27, 2015

Minister of State for Education and Communications and Information Sim Ann says bilingualism was the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's most bold, radical and controversial policy, but it has paid off.

Published by Phys.org, February 2, 2015

New research by the University of Oxford shows that children classified as EAL (English as an Additional Language) usually catch up with their peers in their school attainment by the time they are 16.

Published by the South China Morning Post, January  26, 3-15

Two public schools have stepped up to the challenge of providing cost-effective options for bilingual learning

Published by the Montreal Gazette, January 7, 2015

Chris Eustace writes: "A fully bilingual Montreal education system would offer more opportunities for our youth by producing employable graduates which would help boost Quebec's stagnant economy."

...

"In 2015, let’s put politics aside. The Ministry of Education should consider bilingual schools as an investment not only for Montreal, but also for Quebec."

Published by MLive, November 19, 2014

Detroit Public Schools will further expand offerings to bilingual students and families.